Propane cooking grills often include side burners for providing an auxiliary heating surface in addition to the main grilling surface. Conventional side burner assemblies, however, can be quite complex, often requiring large numbers of components. For example, a typical side burner assembly includes a base, bowl, facia, lid, burner, grid, valve, valve bracket, knob, electrode and a variety of screws, nuts and washers. Parts counts of 25 or more are typical. Such complexity leads to substantial assembly time, cost, lost parts and reduced reliability.
Known side burner designs can also be inefficient, failing to deliver a substantial portion of the heat generated to the cooking surface. The heat not delivered to the cooking surface is typically dissipated in the base, raising the temperature of the base.